Optoma ML1050ST+RFBA DLP LED Projector (Renewed)

Awesome projector. Picture quality is good for 720p. Color is superb, much better than 2 other minis I had. Like the mount at bottom cause I put it on a tripod. Noise level superb compares to other mini projectors especially better than lamp based minis.

This is an amazingly compact projector. It's great for travel. I just can't handle the 720p resolution. If Optoma could bump up the resolution to at least 1080p and give me 300 more lumens, I'd be praising this thing from the roof tops.

I initially tested in a room with ambient light and gave this projector 2 stars because it didn't do as well as I had expected based on other reviews but then I raised my rating to 4 stars after testing it in a dark room and experiencing the full capability of the projector and I could have raised it to 5 stars but you'll understand why I didn't if you get to the end.I bought this to replace an excelvan CL720 projector that annoyed me with its truly obnoxious fan noise terrible image left edge to right edge brightness uniformity and the fact that the projector was incapable of focusing both the centre and the outer edges of the image simultaneously. The Optoma ML1050ST+ gets all of that stuff correct right out of the gate. It is also brighter by a smidge over popular cheap 720P native projectors like the CL720 or GP100 or GP90 etc but don't expect to see a remarkable improvement in terms of picture brightness if you're upgrading from one of those.Where this projector really destroys the cheap chinese projector market is when you use it in a dark room. The black levels/contrast (when viewing in a dark environment) is ASTRONOMICALLY better than any of the native 720P offerings from excelvan, vivibright or vankyo. The color accuracy on the ML1050ST+ is also head and shoulders above the cheaper chinese projectors as well. It also does way better in terms of edge to edge picture focus and edge to edge brightness uniformity. It was really pleasant to see the outer edges at the right and left of the screen just as in focus and just as bright as the center of the screen (if not brighter).This projector's light engine is wonderful. The power consumption is rated at 77Watts but that figure is misleading because that's what it uses ONLY in full bright mode and you can't use that mode because it looks truly horrific. In cinema and photo modes you would expect the brightness to be significantly lower than bright mode but that's just not the case. In reality the modes do more to change the color of the image and the fan noise than affect brightness. Think of the modes like this. BRIGHT mode= highest fan noise + useless green picture, ECO mode = 0 fan noise (inaudible) + useless dark green picture. The next two modes: CINEMA & PHOTO mode= very low fan noise and exactly the same brightness as bright mode but just with accurate colors. (maybe I got a lemon but that's how mine works.) In these modes the projector ONLY consumes 27 WATTS of power. YES you read that correctly just 27watts plus the lamp life is basically eternal and it doesn't get very hot so you can use this for extended periods like you would a TV set and it would actually lower your energy bill(that's mainly why I bought it). Add that to the very low fan noise in all modes except bright mode(useless mode) which is probably less than 1/10th of the CL720 fan (possibly quieter) and then consider the colors are accurate the black levels are good the image focus and brightness is good and uniform and you can easily see why the cost is totally worth it right? Well not so fast. Here's the problem.Two things will REALLY hurt the way this projector is perceived. The first issue is the PRICE$$$$!!!!. At $650 just about every other projector in that price range does native 1080P and that brings me to the second and the BIGGEST weakpoint of this projector. 720P native resolution REALLY hurts the picture quality and therefore the potential of this projector. Also, the black levels while good are not $650 "good" so just because of how much the item costs, you will constantly wish the black levels/ contrast was just a bit better. If your intended use for it is mostly TV show or movie viewing the tradeoff of brightness for black performance is a sketchy one and you never get the best brightness as well as great black levels at the same time even in a dark room. It's REALLY close but not quite there and you'd be really happy if you paid $300 or $400 for this level of performance but for $650 you'd wish you had better performance on screen.I FIRMLY believe that optoma's decision to prioritize adding a headphone jack and the autofocus feature to the 1050ST+ over just simply making it native 1080P to take full advantage of the brighter light engine was just a terrible decision. You can live with the fact that the projector doesn't get super bright because in reality it only consumes 26-28 Watts in the only two modes that matter (cinema & photo). That's half the power consumption of a regular tv set while producing a much larger image; You can also live with the fact that it doesn't have world endingly amazing black level performance for the $650 you spent because it still does a very decent job in that regard; Even though you don't have to as these features are now present, You could have lived without a headphone port or autofocus, because you can work around all of these types of quirks and it only hurts the viewing experience SOME of the time. However, The lack of 1080P native resolution hurts the projector ALL of the time.So in concluding, do I recommend it? Well it depends. I've decided not to return it but that may not be the best decision for you depending on your needs.Does light weight/ small form factor/ portability/ very low fan noise & heat/ lower power consumption than the average laptop mean a lot to you? Are you satisfied with decent image quality that only lacks finer HD detail? Are you willing to pay a premium to have those features? Then this projector is perfect for youHowever if you're after the best bang for your buck and you don't mind having a projector that's bulkier, or you don't care that the average projector consumes about 6 times more power than the ML1050ST+ and you can't stand to see an image that looks less sharp and lacks detail almost like a 480P image does, then you really should look at a different model.